Posts by One Side Only

Hello members and visitors! The forum has been upgraded to a new server and new forum software versions. We are in the process of tidying up and making it look nicer, but for now, please check out our two newest themes: Steel Nexus and Steel Nexus Worksafe!

Dobbs is literally a rocket scientist so uber intelligent , he may know the playbook as well as Ben in theory by week 1

that being said are we any worse off going with Dobbs if he plays well and saving the roster spot for an extra WR or DB where we are thought to have difficult cuts to come ?

Display More

I don't care how smart Dobbs is, he won't know the playbook as well as Ben ever, weeks is laughable. As we've seen tonight, knowing the playbook doesn't help when you can't read a defense and go through progressions. Throwing high and generally all over the place doesn't help his case either.

No matter how many times we might wish against it, they are keeping three quarterbacks.

Matakevich emerged as the back up at both mack and buck positions. Pouncey compared him to Luke Kuechly, which is high praise indeed.

I'm anxious to see if some of the other defensive guys, who will be forced to play due to injuries to starters, are worth anything. Coty Sensabaugh, described as a "plug and play" corner, needs to play well.

Hilton will get a lot of snaps in the slot. I can't see him unseating William Gay though.

I hope Brian Allen plays well. If he gets a chance on special teams, he might squeeze on the roster and work his way up the depth chart. He's probably headed for the practice squad.

I think Dan McCullers is a dead man walking, especially with L.T. Walton getting reps at NT. Wouldn't surprise me to see them go with just 5 defensive linemen (Heyward, Tuitt, Alualu, Hargrave & Walton. That would leave room for an extra receiver or defensive back.

Ju Ju S-S is going to be great. We're going to see a lot of him against the Giants.

Mike Tomlin gave RB Terrell Watson the nickname "Nightmare." Let's see if he lives up to it tomorrow.

B.J. Finney gets the start at center. He has the back up spot nailed down, but he needs to play well.

First of all, Landry Jones will be the back up unless this abdominal injury is worse than we think or if he suffers another injury. Second, Although I have long advocated for carrying just two quarterbacks, the Steelers will carry three, otherwise they wouldn't have drafted Dobbs in the first place. If Dobbs is second on the depth chart, Jones would be three. Third, Dobbs may looks good in the pre-season where there is no game planning or preparation for the other team, but he still doesn't know the offense as well as Jones.

Dirty Red seems to making strides. He apparently is the back up to both inside linebacker positions. Again quoting from Mark Kaboly:

If you are worried about the depth behind Shazier and Williams, you might just be wasting your time. Matakevich has put together a strong camp and has been doing it running with the first team, filling in for either Shazier or Williams. Matakevich broke up a beautiful throw down the seam to Grimble and has been very active in stopping the run as well.

If this keeps up, it’s going to be quite difficult to keep T.J. Watt off the field, even if Harrison is in front of him. Through a handful of practices, Watt has shown he has multiple pass-rush moves and that he can be flexible enough to flip from the right outside linebacker spot to the left, then to the ‘rover’ linebacker spot in the nickel. During a drill where linebackers have to cover tight ends one-on-one, Watt was plastered on David Johnson so thoroughly that Roethlisberger just held the ball and refused to throw it. But the best play from the rookie came during the live team scrimmage period. Watt was able to get from his right outside linebacker spot all across the field to lay a monster hit on Knile Davis. Watt came from so far across the field, it first appeared that it was a safety who came up and made the hit.

I'm going to say Mike Hilton. I've read a few reports from Spring practices that Golson didn't look so good. Maybe its rust, but his skills may have diminished in two years without playing. Orndoff has a shot as well. I really hope they don't keep Davis Johnson. Galambos might push journeyman L.J Fort off the roster.

Several years ago this message board was the primary source for Steelers discussion. People would post thoughts and ideas, discussions would thrive, and posts would be filled with insight. Now, not so much. I know we can't ask those who no longer participate how they have replaced participation on this board, since they aren't here to answer, but for those who have hung on, but rarely visit or post, where are you getting your Steelers fix?

Those who used to fixtures on the board must follow the Steelers and express their opinion somewhere, because that's what Steelers fans do. The big questions are where, what do those outlets have to offer that this board doesn't, and why did they drift away?

There a few message board out there, mostly filled with idiots (Thread title: Trade Bell for Sherman) and the Scout.com Steelers site is pretty good, but the best stuff resides behind a pay wall. The second hand news sites, Steelers Depot and BTSC just regurgitate what they see elsewhere.

The best site for Steelers coverage, as well as Pittsburgh sports in general is DKPittburghSports. Comments under each serve a similar purpose as threads on a message board. I highly recommend it, and the price is very reasonable.

Will we see this board survive 2017?

If the Steelers fail to meet performance expectations, will participation wane even further?

This is the kind of thing that makes professional football unattractive to me. The Steelers should pony up some money for Al, not a tremendous amount because of his age, but enough to show he's appreciated. They also should tell Bell to sign the franchise tender, and get his @ss to camp. Maybe I'm just getting old.

we need a backup who is capable of leading the team to victory not a backup that we at times win in spite of , Jones is clearly the latter

is Dobbs that guy ? I honestly do not know

nobody thought Brady was who he is either and many believe you should draft a QB every year from the mid to late rounds until you hit gold ... not sure I am in that camp

Display More

Dobbs was not selected to compete with Landry Jones for the back up role, just like Jones was not selected in 2013 to compete with Gradkowski. Both selections were asinine, with asinine reasoning offered to explain both decisions. Knowing the uncertainty surrounding Ladarius Green, they should have taken a tight end. They should have taken a player at almost any other position over a quarterback.

Like I said in response to mojouw's post, I predict the Steelers would look for another, more experienced quarterback in the event Roethlisberger is lost for the season or a significant portion of it.

Back to the subject of tight ends, I think the "loss" of Ladarius Green isn't a loss at all, since he contributed very little last season. More to the point, the type of tight end Green is (or was) differs greatly from the type of tight end the Steelers' offense has employed in the past. I bring this up to illustrate the debate over form follows function vs. function follows form. Green's skill set (form) altered the scheme (function) of the offense. Clearly if Green was healthy or if they had selected a similar player in the draft, Haley's offense would have changed to accommodate that skill set. However, the counterpoint to that way of thinking is to say the tight end in the Steelers offense is supposed to be an all around player, a la Heath Miller. The Steelers look at the OLB position the same way. So, it would have made sense to draft a guy like Kittle, even if they thought Green was healthy.

My prediction for the tight end position is James / Grimble / Orndoff. I think we will an increased use of 4 and 5 WR sets in place of an athletic TE split wide like Green. On a related note, I think there is a possibility the RB position will be filled by just three guys, Bell, Conner and Nix, with an extra receiver kept on the roster. Similar to the QB position, I believe the Steelers would look for a more experienced guy in case Bell suffered a serious injury, someone like DeAngelo Williams, assuming he hasn't signed with another team, or Knile Davis, who I think my be caught up in a roster numbers crunch.

How about this. We can revisit in the preseason after they both play. We can watch Jones fail to move the offense. Let's see what Dobbs does in comparison.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Look back at the 2013 season. Gradkowski was the established back up. Landry Jones didn't compete for the back up role. The same thing is going to happen this year. Barring injury, Dobbs will not be active for any regular season game. Landry Jones didn't play at all until 2015, and that was because Mike Vick got hurt. If Roethlisberger suffers a significant injury, the Steelers will sign an experienced street free agent, someone like Ryan Fitzpatrick. If this were to happen before the trade deadline, and the team was in the playoff hunt, I predict they would attempt to trade for a back up quarterback before the give the keys to the car to Landry Jones. I think I'm solid ground with my opinion, based on recent history. Dobbs is the new Jones; much ado about absolutely nothing.

In the grand scheme of things, it doesn't matter if Dobbs outplays Jones in the pre-season.

Everyone wants to complain about the backup QB being bad. Why can't we have someone like AJ Mccaron. Then the team drafts one and that's the wrong move as well?

Jones is simply not good enough. He can not run the offense and is the single biggest factor in 1-3 losses per season. How is using a low fourth round pick to potentially overcome that a bad idea?

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Display More

Makes perfect sense. Teams draft back up quarterbacks all the time. I can't think of an occasion when a team that has an established back up drafts a guy for the purpose of developing him into a back up. Dobbs is a back up to the back up.

It doesn't matter who is available now as a back up, because the Steelers don't need a back up; they already have one. However, if you want to deal in hypotheticals, Ryan Fitzpatrick would have been a solid signing. They simply could have kept Zach Mettenberger.

What is ridiculous is all the Landry Jones hate. He is the back up, as evidence by the contract he received. He's only appeared in 16 games, starting 4. They won two of those games. How can he be held responsible for 1-3 losses a year?

Using a 4th round pick to select a QB whose ceiling is being a backup, when they could have selected any number of players that could be contributors this year, most notably George Kittle, is more than a bad idea.